


I'll Be There, Some Way, Somehow

by singing_to_empty_caves



Series: That's What Bein' A Friend Is About [6]
Category: Mother 1 | EarthBound Zero | EarthBound Beginnings
Genre: 12 year olds are v emotional, Multi, continuation from the previous story, it's still kid problems, just a little though, lloyd has feelings too, ninten has feelings, this is a little heavier than the other stories sorry, yanno besides the whole 'the world is in danger' bit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-30
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:14:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22480018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/singing_to_empty_caves/pseuds/singing_to_empty_caves
Summary: It's getting a little more difficult to be Ninten's friend--at least, for Lloyd. Hopefully, Ninten's new crush won't drive them apart...
Relationships: Ana & Lloyd & Ninten (Mother 1), Ana/Ninten (Mother 1), Lloyd & Ninten (Mother 1), lloyd/ninten (one-sided)
Series: That's What Bein' A Friend Is About [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1524248
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	I'll Be There, Some Way, Somehow

Ninten and Lloyd had almost reached the chapel hidden away in the trees. According to the people of Snowman, this is where they would find Ana. Her father was a priest, and she herself was religious--they lived in a building attached to the back of the church.

The white wolf let out one last howl before it stumbled over and hit the ground. It slowly managed to get back up on its feet, but its eyes weren’t messed up anymore. It watched them for a moment, then left into the trees. Lloyd had worried that even the free wolves would attack them, but the creatures seemed to be smart enough to know that Ninten and Lloyd were helping them. After the two saved one wolf, all of the normal wolves respected them from a distance--and Lloyd was more than happy to keep that distance, and therefore their respect.

Now that they stood alone in the snow, Ninten took another puff from his inhaler. “We g-gotta buy m-more m-medicine for this th-thing b-back in t-town. That l-lady at the drugst-tore was real nice--I hope sh-she’s g-got asthm-ma m-medicine…”

The clouds of steam Ninten exhaled into the air made Lloyd’s heart race in worry. Every breath was crucial to his friend, especially in this weather. Lloyd wanted to drag Ninten to the nearest house they could find, sit him in front of a heater, and make him stay there until none of his breaths sounded as shuddering and uneven as they did right now. 

He pictured Ninten on the drugstore floor, wrapped up in the quilt the clerk had given them. He remembered the way Ninten had spoken about their mission, matter-of-fact and optimistic at the same time. The funny way he spoke--was that what everyone sounded like in Mother’s Day? It was cute.

Wait. _Cute?_

“Lloyd?”

Lloyd snapped out of his thoughts and realized he was staring at Ninten. “O-oh. Sorry. Um, maybe you can s-save some of your m-medicine if you go indoors.”

When Ninten gave him a look of dead confusion, Lloyd pointed up ahead at the cross looming above the trees.

“Oh! It’s r-right th-there?! C-c’mon!”

Ninten stomped through the snow with renewed effort. Lloyd couldn’t help glancing over every so often and taking in the lively appearance of his friend, pressing onward in a borrowed coat.

There was that _feeling_ again. It was just like when Ninten hugged him at the drugstore…

No. No, Lloyd had to be going crazy.

Thankfully, the walk didn’t last forever, and soon enough they stood at the chapel doors.

“Sh-she’s h-here. I c-can f-feel it.”

Lloyd watched him swing open the doors with confidence… and then stop dead in his tracks only a few steps in. It startled Lloyd. What would make him stop so suddenly?

“Ninten?”

Lloyd followed behind, and saw what Ninten was staring at.

This had to be the girl they’d been looking for. She stood in the aisle between the pews, staring right back at Ninten. Her hair was pulled up in two blonde pigtails, and she was wearing a pink dress. Her eyes were bright blue, and they had something in them that made Lloyd blink in surprise.

“You’re the boy with my hat.”

“You’re Ana?” Ninten asked softly.

That was the second cue that something was _very_ off about Ninten. He didn’t have the capability to speak softly, ever. How did Ana suddenly change that?

Lloyd wished he could hear more of this gentle voice.

“Yes. And you are?”

“Oh! U-um, my name’s Ninten.”

It took Lloyd a moment to realize what felt wrong about that, but then it hit him. Ninten’s habitual “and this is Lloyd” had disappeared.

“Ninten. It’s good to meet you. I’ve had dreams about your arrival.”

The cold had turned Ninten’s face pink, but Ana’s words made the color darken. “Yeah?”

“You’re going to lead us in stopping a great evil, aren’t you?”

“Uh, y-yeah! I’m tryin’ to figure out what’s makin’ all these animals go crazy, and then, um, stop it.”

Ana giggled. “Why are you so nervous?”

“I’m not nervous!” Ninten blurted. “Naw, no way, I’m just, uh, I’m still real cold.”

Lloyd knew that was a lie. Why _was_ Ninten so nervous? After all, he was the one who had all of the gut feelings about Ana. He should’ve been more prepared than Lloyd.

Unless…

Lloyd glanced between the two of them. Ninten was nervous, but Ana looked more collected. It was being in a room with her that was putting him on edge, wasn’t it? Lloyd could usually read Ninten like a book, but this one wasn’t immediately clear. What about meeting Ana in person would change his confidence?

“Come with me, then. There’s a fireplace in our house.”

“O-okay!”

Ninten followed Ana without hesitation. In fact, he didn’t even look back.

_He left Lloyd in the dust._

Suddenly, everything was clear: Ninten had a crush on Ana. Ninten, as kind as Lloyd thought he was, had decided he was yesterday’s news. Ninten was in love, and Lloyd… wasn’t a part of this mission to find Ana anymore.

This crushed him in all of the expected ways… and then something _else._

No. No, Lloyd insisted to himself that it wasn’t what he thought it was. Ninten was his friend, and Lloyd wasn’t… 

All of the mean words exchanged among his class at school rang through his head. No, that wasn’t him! The thought made him feel sick.

But then, what did all of those thoughts mean? Why did he think Ninten’s voice was cute, and what about the feeling that bubbled up in him sometimes when they were together?

...Lloyd didn’t want to think about it anymore.

Neither Ninten nor Ana had acknowledged Lloyd in their conversation, and he hadn’t been invited to go with them. He knew better than to butt in where he wasn’t wanted. It only ended badly when he tried. So, he sat down in the pews, trying to ignore the pit in his stomach.

Ninten would come back… eventually. Lloyd didn’t know when that would be, but he knew he had to keep his oath to his friend. He wasn’t sure if he wanted Ninten to keep up his end anymore.

* * *

“Lloyd?”

Ninten’s voice stirred his friend from sleep, and Lloyd blinked a few times. He realized he’d fallen asleep in the chapel, forehead against the pew in front of him.

“Oh, good! You’re awake,” Ninten sighed. “I was worried.”

“Were you now?” Lloyd muttered. He adjusted his glasses.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” Lloyd replied at a normal volume.

Ninten looked doubtful, but he continued anyways. “I didn’t realize you weren’t with us. Are you feelin’ okay?”

“Yes. Fine.”

The concern on Ninten’s face intensified. “All right… Ana’s got a warm dinner for us. If ya want it.”

Lloyd’s stomach still felt unsettled from Ninten’s abandonment, and from seeing the way he looked at Ana. He didn’t want to deal with them.

“I’m not hungry, thank you.”

“Really… are you okay?” Ninten asked.

“I said I’m fine,” Lloyd snapped.

He barely registered the shock on Ninten’s face as he pulled out his backpack and retrieved a notebook.

“Hang on, Lloyd!”

Lloyd didn’t answer him.

“You’re obviously not ‘fine’. C’mon, we’re friends! I wanna help you.”

“You can help by _leaving me alone._ ”

Ninten didn’t respond for long enough that Lloyd wasn’t sure if he would at all. In fact, Lloyd was expecting him to leave again--but then he finally spoke.

“What’d I do?”

Lloyd stopped. He sighed, and set his notebook down in his lap.

“Obviously, I hurt your feelings. I just don’t know what I did. I can’t apologize right until I know what I’m apologizin’ for.”

Lloyd looked up, and even though he knew it was a mean thought, he was glad that Ninten looked upset at the tears in his eyes.

“The minute you walked in here, you completely forgot about me. Ana doesn’t even know my name, Ninten. You two introduced yourselves, and then you followed your _girlfriend_ out of the room. I wasn’t invited. That’s why I was out here, Ninten. _I wasn’t wanted._ So can you stop acting like you want me to come with you? I know you like her, and you think she’s pretty, and you want to spend time with her now. But if you’re gonna toss me like trash, at least own up to it.”

Ninten’s mouth hung open.

“I’m gonna head back to the drugstore. At least the clerk there said I’m welcome anytime,” Lloyd said. It felt horribly mean, and he knew he didn’t need to add the last part, but he was afraid that if he stayed here, he would only feel worse over time.

“But--Lloyd, the oath!”

“Ana had a dream about you, didn’t she? She knew you were coming, and she knew about your mission to save the world. She probably has cool powers like you do. Take _her_ to do all this stuff, and fall in love, and live happily ever after. You’ve made it clear enough that you don’t need some geeky, _normal_ kid as a friend.”

Lloyd pushed past Ninten and stormed out the front door of the church, wiping at his eyes under his glasses.

It wasn’t just Ninten leaving him alone in the chapel that made him feel lonely and sick. It was the thought of him falling in love with a girl and leaving him behind for good, leaving to be her boyfriend. It was the thought that Lloyd didn’t even mean enough to Ninten to be his _friend_ anymore, let alone…

Lloyd was a scientist, an experimenter. He always tried to work out variables, to account for unknowns. Here in Snowman, though, he’d figured out something he didn’t even know he was missing.

All that mushy stuff people said about falling in love, about pretty eyes and making your heart beat faster, and wanting to be around someone all the time… Lloyd never understood it before now. Now, he couldn’t stop thinking about Ninten’s crooked grin, and the messy black hair under his cap.

Lloyd could hear the boys at Twinkle Elementary already, saying awful things, and no one would be there to defend him--certainly not Ninten, who lived in Mother’s Day and didn’t even care about Lloyd anymore.

He didn’t want the drugstore lady’s cocoa. He wanted a ticket home.

* * *

_Lloyd?_

Lloyd sat in a chair in the train station, sniffling. He’d managed to scrape up enough money to get home, but only by selling the boomerang Ninten bought for him. He’d nearly gotten himself killed on the way back, too. At least Ninten didn’t have as many Weird-ified creatures to fight when he left the church with Ana.

_Lloyd!_

He ignored the voice in his head. He was probably imagining things--after all, he was pretty tired. It had gotten kind of late since he left the chapel, and he hadn’t had anything to eat, either. He was just grateful there was a night train to Thanksgiving.

_It’s Ana, from the church. Where are you?_

Lloyd rolled his eyes. If someone really was talking to him, he’d make it clear what he thought.

_You can leave my head now. Ninten put you up to this, didn’t he?_

_If I’m reaching you, I need you to come back! Ninten’s trying to find you. He’s in tears, and he’s got Mrs. Jameson at the drugstore worried out of her mind. They’re calling everyone in town!_

So Ana couldn’t hear him after all.

Lloyd imagined Ninten frantically trying to find him. Ana said he was asking all over town… that he was crying. Sure, he’d seen Ninten crying before, but...

_He said you two had an argument. Lloyd, he blames himself. He thinks something horrible happened, and that it’s his fault!_

Lloyd was startled by this. Ninten didn’t seem worried the last time they argued, when they separated in the forest--why now? Was it the cold? Was it--

 _Oh._ Lloyd remembered the clerk telling them about mysterious disappearances. Did Ninten think...

Lloyd sniffled again and stared down at his ticket. His train left in twenty minutes.

...He was still wearing a borrowed coat, and he needed to return it to the drugstore. If he hurried, he could get there and see if Ana was telling the truth about Ninten--and if she wasn’t, he could hurry right back and catch the train.

If Ninten really was this worried, Lloyd didn’t want to leave just yet.

He shoved the ticket in his coat pocket and pushed open the train station door.

* * *

Lloyd opened the door to the drugstore and immediately came face-to-face with absolute chaos. People were rushing left and right, comparing stories and pointing to pages in phonebooks. One man was holding a phone, finger keeping it on the hook.

“There’s only one house left in Snowman, kid. Are you sure he’s still here?”

“N-no!”

Lloyd caught sight of Ninten, and his heart plummeted. Ninten wasn’t just crying, he was _sobbing._ The man holding the receiver started dialing on the phone, and the drugstore clerk was holding Ninten around the shoulders.

“I dunno where he is! Wh-what if he--if he d-disapp-peared?!”

“Shh…” the clerk comforted. “We’ll find him. We’ll find Lloyd.”

Ninten wheezed loudly, and the clerk handed him his inhaler--evidently, he’d used it at least once before now.

“...Yes, hi, it’s Mr. Porter. We’re trying to find a child. Eleven years old, platinum blond hair--”

“Ninten!” Lloyd shouted from the door.

Ninten looked up, and Lloyd saw his eyes go wide. He sprinted at Lloyd and grabbed him in a hug so tight that it knocked the breath out of him.

“Lloyd! Y-you’re okay!” Ninten cried into his shoulder. “Oh--I was--I was so s-scared--”

“I’m sorry,” Lloyd mumbled, holding onto Ninten as tightly as he could manage while still recovering from the weather outside.

How selfish could he have been? Ana was right. For him to totally vanish, in the middle of a crisis that was causing people to disappear without a trace… Ninten probably feared the worst. No matter how upset Lloyd had been with him, that wasn’t okay.

“No, _I’m_ s-sorry. I-I was--I w-was so mean,” Ninten said.

“I was mean too.”

“Both of you boys, come sit down next to the heater. I’ll get some water, you’ll get dehydrated with all that crying,” the clerk said as she grabbed them and steered them to the heater again.

They both sat in front of the heater, and Ninten grabbed Lloyd’s hands. “Where w-were you?”

“The train station.”

Lloyd handed Ninten his ticket. It took Ninten a couple of seconds to read over, but once he realized what it was, he grabbed Lloyd in another hug.

“P-please stay,” he said. His voice was warped by the congested sounds of crying.

“I won’t leave again, I promise.”

Lloyd sat by the heater for a while with Ninten clinging to his side. Eventually, Ninten’s tears calmed down, and they were sitting in silence. 

“Hey, Lloyd?

“Yes?”

“You were… really that mad about me likin’ Ana?”

Lloyd stared down at where Ninten was clutching his forearm. Ninten’s hands were covered in little scratches and cuts, and his arms were all bruised up. He had a band-aid stuck to his elbow, but it was the only one in sight--Lloyd had made him put it on sometime between the train station and the church.

They were friends. They looked out for each other. If Ninten cared this much--enough to chase after him and turn the whole town over to make sure he was safe--the least he owed Ninten was honesty. He told himself that Ninten wouldn't be too upset.

“Ninten--”

Lloyd’s words got stuck in his throat. How was he supposed to come clean? It was terrifying.

“Yeah?”

Ninten’s hands looked tense, now.

“Mrs. Jameson sent me to bring you water,” a voice said from behind, catching both of their attention. They both turned around to look.

A blonde girl stood there with two cups, one of them steaming. Lloyd recognized her after a moment of confusion: it was Ana. He was upset to have been interrupted, but found himself surprisingly relieved that he could delay confessing his feelings to Ninten.

“Thanks,” Ninten responded in a tired voice. “What were you doing back there the rest of the time?”

“You were worried about Lloyd being too cold when he came back, so I helped her make a tea that should keep him from getting sick. She added the ingredients, and I may have added a little bit of PSI Healing energy.”

Ana handed the two of them their drinks, and Lloyd looked down at the tea. It was a dark gold color, and shimmering slightly.

“Thank you, Ana. I don’t think I ever introduced myself--”

“Lloyd. I’ve heard your physical description more times than I can count.”

Ana knelt down next to them, at Ninten’s side.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything…”

Lloyd opened his mouth to answer, but Ninten spoke before he could.

“Lloyd was about to tell me somethin’, actually. It sounded real important…”

Ana turned to look at Lloyd. He quickly avoided her eyes.

“If I need to leave--”

“You aren’t interrupting anything,” Lloyd said quickly. He took a sip from the drink she’d given him. “Whoa, that actually tastes like magic! How’d you get PSI into the tea?”

Ninten gave Lloyd a funny look, but it relaxed when he realized that Lloyd was making friendly conversation with Ana.

“Oh, well, it’s not too hard. You see, most forms of PSI Healing work by aiming it directly at someone. I just aim it at the tea instead, and then the PSI blends with the other ingredients. No one seems to agree on what exactly it tastes like, though.”

“Hm.” Lloyd took another sip. “It’s hard to describe. It tastes sort of like the way pop stings your tongue a little, but there’s no fizz to it. And there’s something like… honey?”

“That’s to soothe your throat. I expected that you might catch a cold out there.”

“I think I’m all right. You should be looking after Ninten, if anything--I have no idea if his inhaler even has any medicine left in it.”

“We bought more,” Ana sighed. “How did you keep him alive for this long?”

“He defends himself, mostly. He’s very good with his bat.”

Ana rolled her eyes with a smile. “Is that all he’s got going for him?”

“Pretty much,” Lloyd joked, sending a well-meaning grin Ninten’s way.

“Hey, but I protect you, don’t I? And I’m teachin’ you to fight, too! I mean, ya got back to town on your own! You’ve gotta be gettin’ better with that boomerang.”

Lloyd flushed and looked at the floor. “I… was, yeah.”

“You _were?_ Whaddya mean by that?”

“...I sold the boomerang for my ticket home,” Lloyd confessed softly. “At the general store. It was the only way I could afford the trip…”

Lloyd felt Ninten’s hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, it’s all right. Honest! We’ll just buy another one. No harm done.”

“I sold something you bought for me as a _gift_. Aren’t you mad?”

Ninten sighed. “Okay, yeah, I’m a little mad. But I get why you did it. You wanted to go home, and I’m sure you weren’t feelin’ too great about me when you sold it. I just… can’t stay mad at ya, not after you changed your mind and came back. I really was scared…”

“You can thank Ana for that.”

“...What?”

Lloyd tilted his head in mock confusion. “Didn’t you already know that your girlfriend has telepathic powers?”

“She’s not my--wait, _telepathic powers?!_ That’s way beyond my PSI!”

Ninten was, once again, looking at Ana like she’d hung all the stars in the sky. Lloyd would be lying if he said he wasn’t jealous… but more than that, he was happy to know that he was still Ninten’s friend--and that Ninten would be happy to travel with both of them.

Confessing could wait.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> Okay, yeah, I'm sorry--Lloyd having a crush on Ninten was a little bit cruel to the poor kid... especially for a story taking place around 1988. I promise, it'll all come together soon!  
> You've probably noticed by now that I sometimes supplement the personalities/powers of the characters with small details from their analogous characters in Earthbound (like Ana's ability to telepathically reach out to Lloyd). I'll offer a respectful reminder that I haven't seen much from the MOTHER encyclopedia or the novelization--everything in this series is based on the game and any information I grab from quick Google searches. Let me know if I've messed up any major details!  
> And, as always, comments are welcome. :)


End file.
